The Lough Ree Monster

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  • Aspects of Roscommon



Lough Ree

Would you believe that one of the lakes on the Shannon is home to a monster? Whether you believe it or not, over the years some people have claimed that they have seen a strange creature on Lough Ree. Could this creature be Ireland's very own version of the Loch Ness monster?

On 18 May 1960, a warm summer's evening, Father Quigly, Father Murray and Father Burke were fishing off Holly Point. One of them noticed an unusual object in the lake about 100 metres away and drew the others' attention to it.

Here is how one of the priests described what he saw in a newspaper interview the following day:

'It was moving. It went down under the water and came up again in the form of a loop. The length from the end of the coil to the head was 6 feet. There was about 18 inches of head and neck over the water. The head and neck were narrow in comparison to the thickness of a good-sized salmon.'